Earlier this week I was on my way to see Harry Styles in Paris’ biggest arena that he sold out effortlessly.
After failing at getting tickets for his first leg of the tour, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to finally see him live. The last time I had seen him was in the summer of 2014, during One Direction’s Where We Are Tour. It was quite a change to go from seeing five teenagers in a stadium filled with 80,000 people to seeing one man in a 20,000 people room.
When I arrived, I went straight to the merch stand where there were products that were a bit too expensive. My favorite piece is the set of three “Treat people with kindness” bracelets whose purchase’s profits will go to local charities (as well as a portion of ticket sales). In fact, Harry is really involved in making everyone happy and spread love and kindness: he took and held up 2 fans’ LGBT flags throughout the show and had a “Stop Gun Violence” sticker on his guitar.
🎥| New Harry Styles: Live on Tour merch. pic.twitter.com/LUs9SaiWf7
— HSU (@HS_Updating) March 10, 2018
His first opening act, a young artist from London named Mabel and known for her 2015 hit “Know Me Better” and her more recent single “Finders Keepers” was amazing on stage, singing and dancing beautifully, accompanied by very talented musicians backup singers.
After a break featuring an animated drawing of Harry’s hands playing with a Rubik’s Cube, he finally arrived on stage singing his track “Only Angel”. He then sang four other songs from his first album. During “Two Ghosts,” the crowd held up a “You bring us home” sign referring to the lyrics of the song. Then came the One Direction songs: “Stockholm Syndrome,” “If I Could Fly,” (performed on the B-Stage in the center of the arena), and “What Makes You Beautiful.”
You would think that hearing only one member of the boyband singing their songs would be weird but the great thing about it is the interpretation Harry does of them: the little note changes and instruments arrangements change are game-changing. Before joining the B-Stage thanks to a secure path in the crowd, he sang “Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart”: the song he wrote for Ariana Grande in 2014, and presented us one of his newest song “Medicine.” Harry also sang another song that was not on his album, “Anna”. After singing his hit “Sign Of The Times,” during which an amazing fan project was realized, creating a gay flag in the arena, and an encore, he came back to sing three more songs: “From The Dining Table” (during which the whole crowd was unbelievably silent), “The Chain” (by Fleetwood Mac), and “Kiwi” to close the night.
During the whole concert, Harry gave every ounce of energy and passion he had, dancing, having fun and trying to speak french. He’s also a very funny person who joked a lot with us throughout the evening. The organization of the stage and background images was great and his interpretation of the songs was also unique and different from the “original” version (which I think is very important when seeing an artist live). Moreover, the overall atmosphere of the crowd was very good, everyone nice and obviously emotive to see one of the members of the band. There were also two very cute gay proposals during “A Little Bit Of Your Heart” and “If I Could Fly.”
THIS MAKES ME HAPPY BOTH COUPLES SAID YES AT HARRY’S CONCERT 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/YaRep1Q6NU
— Magen | Fan Account (@GreenandBlue28_) March 13, 2018
In conclusion, it was an amazing experience that I recommend to anybody: Harry’s concerts fill you with so much happiness it hurts the following day.
Cover Image Courtesy of Hélène Marie Pambrun
